Annulment vs. Divorce
A divorce severs the bonds of marriage without any finding that the marriage was void from the inception. The parties simply allege that the marriage is “irretrievably broken” and the court proceeds to dissolve the bonds of marriage and return the people to their status as single individuals.
The defenses to a divorce of condonation, collusion, recrimination, and laches are abolished. A party can request that the Court abate the proceeding to allow for marriage counseling. However, if one party to the action is unwilling to participate in marriage counseling, the Court will proceed forward with the divorce.
The granting of an annulment acts to sever the bonds of marriage as if you were never married to one another. In other words, that your marriage is void. Examples of grounds for annulment are fraud, bigamy (that your spouse was married to someone else at the time you were married) and that the marriage was never consummated. Annulments are very rare and, absent specific provable allegations voiding the marriage, they will proceed as a divorce.
Defenses to a Divorce